One of the things that excites me most in this whole world is music. I have absolutely no musical talent whatsoever, couldn’t hold a tune if you held a gun to my head, and can’t dance to save my life, but I *love* music. I love all kinds of music.. except, basically, country. But even some country songs I can jam to! Music is just the most inspiring thing in the world. I love a good beat, I love amazing lyrics, and I love that connection you can feel to a song where it somehow just GETS what you’re going through, what you’re feeling, or who you are that day.

Admittedly I don’t have the firmest grasp on new music because I don’t listen to the radio so a lot of times I’m behind the curve on what’s out there. I have Sirius XM satellite radio in my car, but end up listening to my iPod most of the time (I’m a fan of a well-executed playlist, I fancy myself quite the amateur DJ I guess) so I stick to what’s already in my library, which is great, but I end up missing out on some really good stuff.

I watched the VMAs on Sunday night, and while the overall show was pretty much a trainwreck (MTV doesn’t even try for quality anymore at this point, they just go for what will get them the most tweets) I found myself pleasantly surprised by some of the performances. I thought Justin Bieber did a great job (sans the crying, sorry Biebs) and really love both of his new songs. I also love “Cool for the Summer” but didn’t totally love Demi’s performance (it was a little too try-hard on the sexiness and came across kind of lame, sorry Demi!). I’m also obsessed with The Weeknd — what a phenom voice he has. I loved Nick Jonas at the pre-show too (that grinding sesh with Kelly Osbourne.. I mean, wow. Lick.)

The best performance of the night, to me, was by newcomer Tori Kelly. Aside from her totally enviable hair (THOSE CURLS. How does one achieve such hair perfection?!) and gorgeous makeup, her performance was the bomb diggity. Girl can SANG. I’ve always believed that true talent shines even without all the theatrics of the stage — backup dancers, crazy costumes, strobe lights and confetti. And this girl is a true talent.

Her voice is flawless. And what the fuck is sexier on earth than a girl with a guitar and a breakup song? Nothing. Sparkly pants help too.

If you haven’t seen this performance, you really need to watch it. This is the talent that MTV needs to return to highlighting (and she’s only 22!). Twitter wars, catty pop star fights, and worshipping t&a and sex tape stars — no. This girl is the real deal. I wish for her lots of success and already bought her music on iTunes. I’ll proudly blast it on my next well-selected iPod playlist 😉